Sneak preview of Carlos for Windows Phone 7

25Aug

As you probably know, Windows Phone 7 is around the corner. Microsoft are starting a new platform from the ground up and making some rather brave strides that we think could well pay off. Hey, even Engadget were positive about it. We’re going to keep supporting our Windows Mobile 6.5 apps, but over time our development focus is going to move towards WP7. Microsoft’s new start is great for users but it’s a bit harder for us developers, as we have to rewrite all of our applications from scratch. But hey, it keeps us off the streets.

For the last few months, we’ve been working on a Windows Phone 7 version of Carlos, our car-finder application, and I wanted to share a few screen shots from it. As usual, nothing is final – this is an in-progress application and we’ve still got several weeks of work to do on it.

Main screen

Here’s the main screen, showing the location of your car and you. The sharp-eyed amongst you will notice that we now have Bing Maps integration, so you don’t need to rely on the compass pointing the right way and (perhaps more importantly) you don’t need to wait for a GPS signal when you’re standing in the rain looking for where the car is.

Using text-based locations

Of course, you don’t have to wait for a GPS signal if you don’t want to. Just like in Carlos for Windows Mobile 6.5, you can enter a text-based location if you’re underground or if you can’t be bothered waiting for the GPS. Just like our current version, you can pick from previous locations. If you tend to park in one of a few specific places, as I do, this can often be a lot faster than using the GPS.

Changing settings

Nothing glamorous about a settings screen. But hey, we have one.

One thing these screen shots don’t show you is the way the user interface feels – unlike our WM6.5 application, the transitions between screens are gorgeous animations and working with the map is really very intuitive.

We’ve a couple of features to finish off and a lot of testing to get done (we still don’t actually have a WM7 device yet) but we’re hoping to be available on Windows Phone 7 when it ships, or at the very least pretty soon afterwards.

Comments much appreciated – we’re still at the development stages here, so there’s a lot we can fix!